CompUSA to Close Stores

Last February CompUSA announced they were closing half of their retail outlets. This week, they have announced that the rest of their stores will be closing. This follows the closing of the Good Guys and a tough year for Best Buy the sometimes darling of the Big Box Electronic Stores. I will not miss CompUSA, but I do feel a little badly on their passing.

In years gone by I spent many happy hours there, looking at computers I couldn't afford, buying cables, data cards, hard drives and who knows how many other goodies. I could get advise--questionable as it might be--or just look. Unfortunately, in recent years the advise all but disappeared, prices no longer seemed competitive and the general level of attention to the consumer in store dropped.

Now the Geek remembers when computers were expensive and mysterious, so he is thinking about what really happened to CompUSA and a lot of other electronics retailers who are gone or, perhaps, going. Was it price? Was it service? Let me offer a theory.

Once upon a time, reader, there were places called "Downtown". All the stores were in separate buildings, and in different towns and cities there were different stores. There were few large parking lots and those that existed had attendants that took money from you so you might occupy a parking space.

In the winter it was cold and snowy and in the summer hot and sticky. The people who owned and ran the stores had real names, and ofter the stores were named after the people who ran them. It was not convenient to shop in their stores, you had to pay with cash and it could be difficult to find the exact thing you wanted.

One day a new kind of shopping area appeared, it was called the "Shopping Center" and it had lots of parking and the stores were all in one giant, really big building called a mall. Parking was free and the area between stores heated in winter and cooled in summer. Still people liked the Downtown, and the people who ran the stores downtown talked about service and friendliness and integrity.

Slowly, though, people learned that the Shopping Center often offered lower prices. Integrity was nice, but parking, prices, air conditioning, that was so nice. In the downtown merchants argued about subsidizing parking in the large city lots, while at malls merchants paid high rents that included free parking for their customers. Downtown merchants skimped on Christmas decorations, at the Mall, Santa came with elves and trains and all that was holiday.

Soon the merchants downtown started closing their businesses. Some went to the Malls, but most just closed and names of great stores disappeared from the land. Their owners refusing to grasp that merchandising must change with people's tastes.

Then came the big boxes. Not as convenient as the Malls, the big boxes offered huge selection. Good Guys and CompUSA offered so many items in their specialties that places like Radio Shack started to close. But what the Big Box merchants did not realize was that competing only on selection and price meant that customer loyalty--the thing that kept Downtown alive for decades, just didn't exist.

And soon their were On Line merchants. The Big Boxes laughed. They had large stock and you could hold things in your hand before you bought. You could take things home today. No one took the on line stores seriously. What is this Amazon thing anyway?

I think the demise of CompUSA is a message that the other Big Boxes and Mall owners need to hear. There is more than price and size. These alone will lead to change. Someone can always sell it cheaper or make it bigger. There is still service and real information. I refer you, with all my heart, to your nearest Apple Store. Go in and ask any employee about one of the items on sale. Ask about putting pictures on the internet. They will talk your ear off. Because there are enough sales people, and they have the permission of their management to serve the customer.

What did Circuit City do when their sales slumped? Announced they were cutting the number of employees at the stores. Go to Wal Mart and count the number of UNOPENED check-out stands.

The Internet can offer us selection and price, the merchant needs to find where it can compete and offer that is big, flashing letters. Service, advise and human touch do mean something.